Your schools

New Columbus schools chief says he’s cleaning house

Columbus school attendance scandal

Columbus City Schools employees -- and perhaps others in schools throughout the state -- are accused of falsifying students' records to improve their schools' standing on state report cards. Read the complete series.

More Articles

The new interim superintendent of Columbus schools says he is working to fire employees
implicated in the district’s data scandal, or at least encourage them to leave.

“We are going to hold wrongdoers accountable,” interim Superintendent Dan Good said. “Where
there are supported allegations of unethical behavior, we are taking action to remove them from the
district. We are definitely moving on the issue ... . And you’ll see the results of that in the
next few weeks.”

He said he has been counseling those with ties to the scandal to leave and is making sure he has
other employees ready to fill vacancies. The community should expect changes in employees and
leadership even before school starts on Aug. 21.

Good has been on the job for about three weeks.For the past seven months, Columbus school
officials have had the names of as many as 30 employees who the internal auditor found manipulated
student data.

There has been no action against employees. District officials also haven’t admitted that
anything happened, other than the school-board president’s statement that “mistakes were made.”

The first sign of change on Good’s watch came on Friday, when Amy Dennis submitted her
resignation. District computer logs show that Dennis, who was then principal of Whetstone High
School, deleted nearly 8,000 student absences between 2006 and 2010 and changed or deleted at least
30 final student grades. Then-Superintendent Gene Harris promoted her a year ago to director of
pupil personnel right around the time the state began investigating data problems in Columbus.

Dennis is the fourth administrator tied to the scandal to resign or retire.

But for now, most of the employees connected to Columbus’ data scandal are still at the schools
where they were found to have cheated.Columbus Board of Education President Carol Perkins said last
week that the board did not receive a list of names from its internal auditor and questioned “if a
list does indeed exist.”
The Dispatch reported in January that the internal district auditor would provide Harris
with a list of up to 30 employees at nine schools who an investigation found had improperly changed
student data.

“It would be up to the new superintendent to take that corrective action, which the board would
support,” Perkins said. “We want to work with the auditor so that we can put this behind us, we can
start new.”

Board member Gary Baker, who heads the audit committee, said he wouldn’t comment on personnel
actions, but no one should assume that the board is not taking corrective action. Board member Mike
Wiles said it would be up to the superintendent to take action, and member Hanifah Kambon said she
didn’t know what became of the list but would check.

Board members Ramona Reyes, W. Shawna Gibbs and Bryan O. Steward didn’t return telephone
calls.Internal auditor Carolyn Smith said that in other cases in which she has reported employee
misconduct to the district, officials have taken action. In this case, Smith wondered what the
status was after months had passed without action.

She said she emailed the district’s in-house attorney, Larry Braverman, in May to ask what was
being done with the information.

Braverman has refused to release emails between him and Smith, citing attorney-client
privilege.

Over the past year, the state auditor has been examining student-data fraud in the district.
Some Columbus employees withdrew students without their knowledge, presumably so their test scores
wouldn’t count; deleted kids’ absences; and changed student grades without explanation. The FBI
began investigating, too, in the fall.

Good said he wasn’t aware of a list of names; he is relying on conversations with administrators
and information from Braverman to decide what to do about accused employees.

Harris and the district’s attorneys have said Columbus should wait until the state auditor’s
investigation is done before making personnel decisions. The state auditor called that bunk and
encouraged the district to take action months ago.The district has made nearly two dozen rule
changes based on the internal auditor’s recommendations, including requiring employees to change
computer passwords that hadn’t been changed in years, if ever. Administrators who want to change
students’ grades now must seek permission and fill out forms to document why.

Three top-level administrators and one assistant principal who were accused of either
orchestrating or carrying out data fraud have announced their departures in recent months,
including Dennis, who sent a resignation letter on Friday saying she’ll leave in October. All of
them resigned or retired, which district officials have said they prefer because firing someone can
be costly.

Good can’t explain why no one took action before he arrived. He said he has been talking with
school leaders about their role in the scandal — at Linden-McKinley STEM High School, for example,
where administrators made lots of data changes.

Good said that for some administrators, “if there’s supportable evidence of that unethical
behavior, I’ve worked with them to make a decision” about their continued employment.
Administrators who oversaw those who manipulated data also will be held responsible, Good said.

No employees have been suspended in connection with the scandal.Good’s vow to take swift action
mirrors one made in Atlanta Public Schools by a new superintendent who came in amid what has been
called the nation’s largest school-cheating scandal. In the first week or so on the job, the new
superintendent suspended 182 employees implicated in the scandal, said Steve Smith, associate
superintendent of Atlanta schools.Atlanta replaced about 70 percent of its principals, he said.
About 10 or 15 employees of the 182 were later cleared and returned to work. The rest resigned,
retired or were fired, Steve Smith said.

Good said he’s not a fan of paid suspensions. If you’re paying employees, they should be
productive and working on behalf of the district, he said.